Roya casually tossed the newspaper in his hand into the sea.
He watched as the print, bearing his 1 Beli bounty, sank beneath the waves—instantly swallowed by the ocean.
Marco stepped up beside him, speaking gently.
> "Vice-Captain, don't let that nonsense get to you. It's just a cheap Marine trick—meant to rattle our morale."
But Roya smiled.
> "Cheap as it is… it's actually pretty effective."
"Marineford, huh? Heh."
Marco gave his shoulder a friendly pat, changing the subject.
> "Forget it for now. The sun's setting—why not come to my cabin for a few rounds of cards?"
> "Starting tomorrow, allied pirate crews will start pouring in. This might be our last quiet night for a while."
Roya couldn't help but admire Marco's bravery.
> "You actually want to play cards… with someone who has an Observation Haki Domain?"
Marco, you madman.
---
That night, Roya dominated the card table.
With his domain active, every card was an open book. He saw every hand, every bluff, every tell.
Victory was never in question.
---
By morning, Roya stepped out of Marco's cabin, refreshed by the cool ocean breeze.
A little tired from the smoky, noisy card session—but mentally sharp as ever.
Suddenly, he paused, eyes narrowing toward the southern horizon.
> "Finally. An allied crew has arrived."
Though the ship was still a distant speck on the waterline—only a bit of its mast peeking over—the Observation Domain had already relayed full identity data to Roya's mind.
> "Squard, the Great Whirlpool Spider…"
"If you knew Ace was Roger's biological son, would you still be sailing this way so eagerly?"
Roya chuckled softly, then returned to his luxury Vice-Captain's quarters.
Squard's ship would need at least half a day to reach the Moby Dick.
Which gave Roya just enough time for some beauty sleep.
---
By midday, Squard's flagship finally arrived.
A small boat was lowered from it and rowed over to the Moby Dick by a few sailors.
Squard leapt from the boat into the boarding net, rising onto the deck.
Waiting to greet him was a sleep-deprived Marco.
He'd been losing all night, only barely winning back his losses in the last few hands. The rush kept him up until morning.
But now, seeing the first ally to answer Whitebeard's call, he forced himself upright and strode over with a grin.
> "Squard, you made it! That couldn't have been easy."
But Squard didn't look pleased.
He frowned, voice sharp:
> "Marco, what's the deal with this Roya guy?"
> "The Vice-Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates… and his bounty is 1 Beli?"
> "This is all over the New World now! How are we supposed to show our faces?!"
Marco's smile faded.
> "It's obviously a ploy by the Marines to undermine morale. You really believe that nonsense?"
Squard's anger only grew.
> "All I know is that this Roya was just a trainee lookout a month ago!"
> "You telling me the Whitebeard Pirates have no one better? That we're making rookies Vice-Captain now?!"
Marco took a deep breath, struggling to keep his cool.
> "This was Pops' decision. Are you saying you don't trust his judgment?"
Squard snorted.
> "All I see is favoritism. First Ace, now this Roya kid."
"You're telling me you haven't noticed Whitebeard always favors the new blood?"
> "Well this time, I'm going to challenge Roya face to face.
I'll show Pops exactly how useless these rookies really are!"
Hearing that, Marco let out a dismissive chuckle.
> "You'll learn soon enough. Bounty doesn't equal strength."
He glanced past Squard at the horizon, where more allied ships were beginning to appear.
> "These independent pirate crews may be loyal to Pops…
…but they're way more unpredictable than our core divisions."
> "Maybe it's time Squard here plays the sacrificial monkey, so the rest of the zoo knows not to pick a fight with the lion."
With that thought, Marco smiled and said:
> "Alright. If you're so eager to meet our Vice-Captain's power…
I'll go ask if he's in the mood to teach you a lesson."
He left the fuming Squard behind and walked to Roya's cabin.
Just as he raised his hand to knock, the door opened from inside.
Roya stepped out, yawning.
> "I've already sensed everything."
"Let me deal with this—once and for all."
---
With calm, assured steps, Roya walked up to the deck and sat in Whitebeard's throne—the seat reserved for the captain.
With Whitebeard currently resting in his quarters, that seat now belonged to Roya.
The other commanders, already assembled, took no issue.
To them, this was simply the new norm.
But Squard, who had just arrived and knew nothing of the Observation Field, lost it.
> "If not for Pops' favor, you wouldn't even be on this ship!
And now you have the gall to sit in his chair?!"
> "You're DEAD!"
He roared and lunged forward, leaping more than ten meters in a single bound.
With a swing of his massive blade—still sheathed—he brought it down like a hammer straight at Roya's head.
The blade was so large and heavy, it didn't matter whether it was drawn or not.
Even as a blunt weapon, it could crush a man's skull like a melon.
In a rage, Squard had used his full physical strength in that strike.
His crewmates watched with wild excitement, cheering him on.
Meanwhile, the fifteen division commanders casually picked good spots to watch the show unfold.
---
The blade screamed through the air, closing in—less than ten centimeters from Roya's skull.
Still sleepy, Roya yawned again and looked completely unimpressed.
> "You bastard! You're DEAD!"
Squard, seeing Roya's bored expression, lost control.
He twisted the blade, turning it from a flat strike to a sharpened edge-down kill swing—ignoring Whitebeard's strict rule not to harm crewmates.
The power of the attack instantly doubled.
---
But the expected coconut-cracking head smash… never came.
Squard felt his blade collide with something—
—like an invisible barrier.
It slid to the side, missing entirely, with zero resistance.
> "W-What the hell was that? Observation Haki?"
Squard panicked—but quickly shook his head.
> "No. If it was just Haki, he would've dodged.
But my blade was redirected without ever touching him!"
> "I missed… without missing?!"
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